CTI layoffs attributed to sequestration

CTI Resource Management Services Inc. founder and President Chris Imbach said Thursday his Jacksonville-based company plans to lay off 34 employees in Florida because of sequestration, which refers to the automatic federal budget cuts that take effect March 1 unless Congress and the White House reach a deal.

"We are a defense contractor and it is happening across the U.S.," he said.

"It's slowing down from the Pentagon on down," Imbach said. "They are gone Feb. 28."

He also said the March 27 deadline for the federal budget continuing resolution is another factor. The federal government's fiscal year starts Oct. 1, but Congress has been operating on continuing resolutions to remain operating. The current budget resolution expires March 27.

CTI Resource Management Services filed a Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification Act notice and with the state on Thursday that it could lay off 34 employees March 1.

CTI Resource Management Services isn't the only company affected. The Florida Times-Union reported today that BAE Systems Ship Repair is notifying more than 300 local employees that layoffs could be on horizon.

CTI Resource Management Services is based at 4800 Spring Park Road, Suite 200, in Jacksonville's Southside. The industry is listed as administrative and support and waste management and remediation services.

On the ctirms.com website, CTI Resource Management Services says it is a veteran-owned small business founded in March 2003 and based in Jacksonville.

According to the site, Imbach, a Navy veteran, began providing travel and payroll enterprise system support services to three Navy shore installations in the Southeast Region.

It says Imbach "developed a plan to consolidate support for the remaining 19 shore installations in the Southeast Region into one highly efficient support center."

Today, "CTI is the premier support center providing IT enterprise application support services, anti-terrorism force protection support and enterprise land mobile radio logistics support services to Navy customers throughout the word."

It says CTI provides administrative support services to Commander, Navy Region Southeast, the Department of Defense Washington Headquarters Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Jacksonville USO.

Imbach said he was told the functions provided by CTI Resource Management Services "will be reduced and gone the 28th of February and we have delivered our notices to all affected people."

He said CTI Resource Management Services has 185 employees in 20 states, with 120 employees in Florida.

Imbach said 40 employees will be laid off, with 34 of those in Florida among operations in Jacksonville, Pensacola and Key West.

"It's kind of sad because they are part of our family," he said.

Imbach said they have given "100 percent and I want somebody in Washington to come look at my single moms in the eye to say, 'you are going to lose your job.'"